HT Day 6

Super Doubles excitement is winding down but still managing to find some great deals to pair with coupons. Thank heavens for coupon trading and RAOK's to extend the bliss. Here's today's haul:

4 boxes of 9 ct Bagel Bites - $1/1 IPs (split order into 2 transactions so I could use all 4 q's)
4 boxes of Oreo Cakesters - $1/1 IPs
1 box of Ziploc quart bags - $1/1 tearpad
3 small pouches of salmon - $1/1 wt's
1 bottle of Deer Park Spring Water - no q
Turkey Fillets - $1 off meat wt
Tropicana 50 - $1 off HT catalina (started with 9 so no double!)
1 4 pk Breyers Inspirations yogurt - FREE HT Catalina

Used my last $1 off $5 grocery purchase winetag. *Sigh* The turkey fillets wound up being free- they were marked down from nearly $6 to $1.79 for quick sale and my $1 off meat winetag doubled!

Total OOP: 70 cents
Total VIC & Q Savings: $42.87 or 98% savings

The teenaged boy cashier was quite impressed.

Update on Yesterday's HT Post

Thanks to the recommendations of some HCW posters, I returned to the same HT I shopped at yesterday morning last night and received a $4.22 refund for the two missed coupons. Manager scanned two $1 coupons which doubled when processing refund and I somehow got tax added to that to bring total of refund to $4.22! This meant I actually spent $1.41 for yesterday's haul of $55.75 worth of groceries- much better!

Manager was very nice. I did not get any attitude or questioning at all which was quite refreshing.

This was after I had made another yummy dinner on the cheap so it was a great end to a busy day. We love Qdoba burritos so I tried my hand at making burritos for the first time with some ingredients bought for next to nothing...

Mission Burrito sized flour tortillas - free at HT after coupon 2 weeks ago

Can of HT black beans - I can't even remember what I paid for these they've been sitting in our cupboard so long but I'm guessing it was a buck or less

Wholly Salsa - free at HT after coupons during a super doubles event a while back (I froze these to stay fresh)

Sargento Mexican Cheese - 49 cents at HT after coupon 2 weeks ago - used half a bag so I'm tabbing this at 25 cents

Maruchan long grain white rice - Free at HT after coupon

Smart Balance Reduced Fat Sour Cream - Free at HT after coupon

1.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast - $1.25 or so after coupon at Kroger during a chicken sale using a winetag

Old El Paso reduced sodium taco seasoning - Free after coupon at Kroger mega event

Assuming the black beans were $1, the total cost of this meal for 6 was $2.50. That's less than 42 cents a person! And the kids loved it so that was a big plus. I warmed the tortillas by placing them on a plate separated by damp paper towels and microwaving for a minute - they weren't quite as soft & warm as Qdoba's but they still were pretty yummy.

Super Doubles Day 2

Today I dared to brave the store with all 4 kids in tow- which made it hard to keep an eye on the register while cashing out...which translated into 2 missed q's as I learned when taking a close look at the receipt after we got home. Ugh!

Here's what I bought:

1 Hershey Dark chocolate bar - $1/1 insert q
9 cans of Dole pineapple -$1/3 insert q's
1 box of Double Stuff Oreo cakester - $1/1 IP
2 Lance cheese cracker packs -$1/1 IPs
1 2liter of Sunkist Grape soda - no q for this
1 lb of Perdue ground chicken - $1/1 insert q
1 pack of bakery take & bake rolls - $1/1 WT
1 El Monterey beef & bean burrito - $1/1 tp
2 Bagel Bites 9 ct - $1/1 IPs
2 Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls - 95 cent/1 IPs
2 Buitoni Angel Hair pastas - $1/1 IP
1 qt 8th Continent Vanilla Soymilk - $1.50/1 IP

I also used another $1 off $5 purchase winetag this go round.

Total OOP: $5.63 (should have been $1.63 if all q's had been scanned)
Total VIC & Q Savings: $50.12

I suspect some of my IPs may have stuck together which led to missed q's. Oh well- life happens, right?

HT Super Doubles Day 1

I had to literally roll out of the bed at the crack of dawn to get my HT first stop done. All our kiddos are tracked out from school so I decided to make the trip before hubby left for work. This way I wouldn't subject them to my pacing the aisles trying to figure out what to buy out of my list of potential freebies and cheapies. Here's what I wound up with:

4 boxes of Keebler Wheatables Nut Crisps
6 Sure for Men deodorants
2 Glade Apple Cinnamon warmers
2 Soft Scrub Cleansers
1 box of Oreo Cakesters
2 rolls of Seventh Generation paper towels (my eco-friendly mom friend Daisy will be proud!)
1 box of Kellogg's Smart Start cereal
1 bar of Hershey's Extra Dark (yummmmmmmmmmmm)
1 box off Kleenex

Coupons used:
$1 off minimum $5 purchase winetag (surprisingly this went through & DOUBLED without need for mgr override)
4 - $1.50/1 Wheatables tearpads
6 - $1.50/1 Sure for Men insert q's
2- $1.50/1 Glade insert q's
2- $1.50/1 Softscrub IP's
1- $1/1 Oreo Cakester IP
2- $1/1 Seventh Generation IP's
1- $1/1 Kellogg's IP
1- $1/1 Hershey's insert q
1- $1/1 Kimberly Clark product homemailer q (rec'd after emailing compliment)

Total before coupons & VIC Savings: $62.90
Total after coupons & VIC Savings: $0.89 - yes, that's right...89 cents!
That's nearly 99% savings.

This was a great trip and all but I'm not sure if I'll be making many more this week...unless of course the Wheatables are a hit in our house. Most of the blockbuster deals for items we'll actually use are those requiring an IP for highest savings- and we can only print 2 of each.

Have you stopped at HT yet to take advantage of Super Doubles? If so, what did you buy?

HT Super Doubles start tomorrow!

Another fun-filled week of super doubles is coming- so get those high value q's ready!

Jenny at SouthernSavers has a great match-up lists posted here. She'll likely have another list posted with ad specific match-ups. Keep in mind prices vary by region so what shows up as a freebie on the list may turn out to be a cheapie in your area.

I'm gearing up for this and will post my daily brags. Happy shopping everyone!

Day 3 - Super Doubles

I didn't have as great a third day as I thought I would but still did pretty well! I received an E-Vic Alert this morning indicating that Special K bars were .99 each- which would make the Special K deal a potential $5 moneymaker when you buy 4. E-VICs typically indicate a limit (usually one!) but since the E-VIC alert did not say "limit 1," I hoped it would work on all 4 during a transaction. Unfortunately, it was a no go and only 1 of the 4 bars I picked up this morning totaled .99- the rest were the normal $2 each. Oh well!

Here's what I got:

4 boxes of Special K bars (pickings were slim this morning so I was left w/ Vanilla flavor)
3 boxes of Kahiki Chicken Tempura
3 boxes of Gorton's Popcorn Shrimp
1 box of Bagel Bites, 9 ct.
2 pouches of Bumblebee Salmon (used two $1/1 seafood WTs)
1 box of Bayer Children's Aspirin
1 Campbell's V8 Sweet Red Bell Pepper Soup
1 jar of Nutella Spread

Total spent: $3.25
Total saved: $52.17 or 94%

Day 2 of Super Doubles - NOTHING out of pocket!

Sometimes things work out strangely well at HT and today was one of those days where the stars (and the register) aligned in just the right way to allow for me to spend absolute no money whatsoever on this haul (yes, you read that way...no $$ at all- not even a penny!):

1 box of Kahiki Egg Rolls
1 small pack of Chinet Napkins
12 boxes of Special K bars
8 Oikos single serve greek yogurts
2 boxes of Kahiki Chicken Tempura
1 small box of Wholly Guacamole

I split my order into three separate transactions - each one showed an overage of .33 but the cashier zeroed it out and I walked out of the store with about $72 worth of stuff without paying a cent. It's not every day you wind up with 100% savings at a grocery store!

I mistakenly thought the Kahiki products were $1 AC- therefore enough to eat up the overage from the Special K deal and leave me with just paying tax.

This is NOT a typical situation at HT- I've had an actual overage happen only once before at another HT and was told I'd need to pick something else out in the store to make up for it. So this is a YMMV.

Super Doubles Brag - Day 1

I did my first Super Doubles trip this week braving the cold in the wee small hours of the morning. Here's what I got:

3 boxes of Campbell's V8 Sweet Red Pepper Soup (this stuff is super yummy!)
3 boxes of Finish Electrasol Tabs
2 boxes of Special K Original Cereal
10 boxes of Special K cereal bars
3 Marie Callendar's Homestyle Creations Meals
2 bars of Toblerone dark chocolate
2 boxes of OreIda Easy Fries
1 Endust Free furniture polish
1 Dawn Direct Foaming Detergent
3 Oikos Single Serve Greek Yogurts

Total before coupons & VIC savings: $102.22
Total after coupons & VIC savings: $5.49
Savings of $96.73 or nearly 95% savings

I split this up into three separate transactions to maximize savings thanks to the Special K promotion. In this promo, you get $5 off your order when you buy 4 Special K products. I used a total of 20 coupons that doubled per Harris Teeter's rules and 3 coupons that did not double (the Electrasol $2.50/1).

Have you stopped by HT yet? How did you fare?

Harris Teeter Super Doubles Round 3

Great trip to HT this evening! Landed alot of free lunch school supply items. Thanks to a Stella Artois NBPR seafood purchase rebate, this one will be a moneymaker once rebate is filed & received. Yay for rebates!

Here's the booty:

3 Starbucks mocha frappucinos (29 cents each after coupon)
1 Snyders Pretzel pretzel sandwich multi-pack ($1 after coupon)
3 Nabisco Oreo Mini Cakester 100 calorie multi-packs (FREE after coupons)
1 small can of Underwood Chicken spread (FREE after coupon)
1 Arnold Thins Whole Wheat sandwich bread (99 cents after coupon)
6 pouches of Bumblebee Salmon (FREE after coupons- had 2 different types of seafood WTs)
1/4 lb of honey ham (FREE after coupon)
1 Myoplex protein bar (FREE after coupon)
1 Axe Dual shampoo (FREE after coupon)
1 HT Nonfat Cottage Cheese (full price @ $2.67- wish I had a cheese WT for this!)
2 Lance sandwich snacks multipacks (FREE after coupon)
1 large bottle of parsley flakes (FREE after coupon)
1 Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar 100 calorie multipacks (FREE after coupon)

Total OOP: $5.64-- and I received another Catalina for a free multipack of Breyers Inspirations yogurt!

VIC & Q savings: 60.36

I'll be submitting a $10 MIR for a $20 seafood purchase (the pouches of salmon).

Harris Teeter, Super Doubles Round 2

There really aren't enough great coupon/sales match-ups to warrant daily trips to HT, in my humble opinion. Today was not a banner savings day by any means but I did get stuff we needed at reasonable prices. Here's the booty:

1 32 oz. bottle of Ocean Spray Cranenergy (used $1 q to make it 99 cents)
1 20 oz. Coke Zero (free thanks to a Coke rewards q)
3 pouches of BumbleBee salmon (free thanks to $1 off seafood winetag q's)
1/2 lb of Turkey (free thanks to $1 off deli meat winetag q's)
1/2 lb of Honey Ham (split in 2 orders of 1/4 lb - 50 cents thanks to 2- $1 off deli meat winetags)
4 lbs of bananas (alas, no coupon!)
2 Bloom Plants (free thanks to 2- $2 off flowers winetag)
1 California Pizza Kitchen pizza ($3.69 thanks to $1 IP)
1 Kraft Reduced Fat Parmesan cheese ($1.99 thanks to $1 tearpad q)
1 multipack of YoPlus yogurt (free thanks to $1 IP)
2 multipacks of Sargento string cheese ($5 for both thanks to $1/2 tearpad q)
2 multipacks of Thomas' bagels (no qs for these- rang up at $3.99 as B1G1 price)

Total OOP: $19.32

VIC & Q savings: $42.09

Not bad at all but not one of my recordbook trips, that is for sure!

HT Super Doubles Round 1

I wasn't sure if it was worth waking up for, but off I went to Harris Teeter bright and early this morning for the first day of Super Doubles. Here is what I bought:

2 Starbucks Mocha Frappucinos
2 Fruit 20 Waters
1 multipack of Dannon YoPlus Yogurt
1 Dawn Foam Dish Detergent
1 Dawn Hand Renewal Dish Detergent
2 four packs of Dole Mandarin Oranges
2 multipacks of Dannon Dan-o-nino
3 Clearasil Tinted Acne Cream
2 packs of Borden Fat Free American Cheese
3 packets of Bumblebee Salmon

Total OOP: 53 cents and I got a Catalina for a free multipack of Breyers Inspiration yogurt!

VIC & Coupons Savings: 56.06

Sweet!

Oh noooooooo...it's another Super Doubles at Harris Teeter

The rumor mill is a-jumping - apparently, Harris Teeter is throwing a big old curve ball at all of us and doing another Super Doubles promotion this coming Wednesday 8/26! And I barely have had time to recover from all the triples madness. Looks like I'll have to get my binder in gear yet again.

Super Doubles are Supa-Fly

Check out my goodies from the second HT Super Doubles trip I made this morning. Thanks to my newfound hobby of coupon trading, I had some great extra finds. Here is a list of my steals along with info on coupons used:

1 big bag of Grande Tortilla Chips (used traded insert coupon)

4 6-packs of 1/2 litre Deer Park Water (used internet coupon)

2 boxes of Velveeta Mac n Cheese (used internet coupon)

2 boxes of Kraft Deluxe Mac n Cheese (used internet coupon)

2 boxes of Success Boil in Bag Brown Rice (used internet coupon)

3 Buitoni refrigerated Angel Hair Pasta (used traded insert coupons)

6 trial size containers of Skintimate Raspberry Rain Shave Gel (used 3 $1.50/2 insert coupons)

3 10 pks of Mission Plus tortillas (used internet coupons)

Grand Total would have been $58.50. After coupons & VIC savings, I paid $3.33 AND received a $3 off my next order coupon from Kraft- so it's as if I paid 33 cents for the order.

I should mention I had coupons for 2 of the Mission tortillas and bought 2 thinking they were $1.99 each (so free after coupon). They were mismarked at the tortilla station, so the ones I first picked up were $3.79. I didn't notice until looking at the receipt on the way back to the car, so I went back in, exchanged the 2 I bought for the 2 that should have been $1.99 and received an extra pack for my troubles!

I *heart* coupon shopping. If you'd like to get your hands on some of the internet coupons I used, the easiest way to find them is by joining Hotcouponworld and utilizing their coupon database to find, click and print.

HT Super Doubles Tally

I meant to post this sooner, but life got in the way. After multiple trips to various Harris Teeters during their inaugural Super Doubles week, I managed to snag $585 worth of groceries for a grand total of $107- representing an impressive 80% savings. I could have done better too if I had managed to find more freebies during the latter portion of the week after the Sunday circular (Pert Plus and Playtex disposable gloves were cleaned out fairly quickly). Here's a rundown of what I bought for $107:

1 box Eskimo Pie Dark Chocolate bars
2 Minute Rice single serve Saffron rice
11 Starbucks Mocha frappucinos
10 bottles of Lawrys 30 minute marinades
2 bottles of Smart Balance oil
10 bottles of Garnier Fructis shampoo & conditioner
3 multipacks Playtex disposable gloves (perfect for bathroom cleaning)
3 Borden fat-free American cheese slices
4 packs of Trident spearmint gum
9 containers of Blue Bunny ice cream
4 Sargento light string cheeses
2 Hefty One Zip quart-sized container (for Spencer's 5th grade class)
2 La Brea fresh petite country bread (used these to make 2 batches of french toast)
2 Jello multi-pack Dark Chocolate puddings
1 can of Reddi Wip
1 bottle of Filipo Berio extra light olive oil
3 containers of Uncle Ben's wild & brown ready rice
5 bottles of Pert Plus shampoo/conditioner
3 Kraft light shredded cheeses (mexican, mozzarella & cheddar)
1 Danactive 4 pack
1 bottle Kraft light Italian dressing
1 bottle Jack Daniels' Honey BBQ sauce
2 cans of Lysol Neutra Air spray
2 boxes of Archway cookies (brought these to Isabelle's end of year ice cream party)
7 large bottles of Dawn Pure Essentials dish soap
11 boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats
5 cans of Hot Shot ant/roach/wasp killers
7 bottles of Garnier Fructis hair styling products
1 Sure for Men deodorant
20 containers of Dannon Light n Fit Yogurt
7 bottles of Fruit 20 Essentials fruit-flavored waters
6 boxes of 100 Calorie Oreo mini-cakesters
3 small containers of Bumblebee Tuna
3 boxes of Kashi frozen waffles
1 box of Eggo Twist N Bake Strawberry
1 large California Pizza Kitchen Sicilian Pizza
2 boxes of Oscar Mayer light hot dogs

I'm still not quite sure if I'd prefer super doubles over triple coupon weeks- I'm hoping HT will alternate between the two. It was a double-edged sword for me in that it was nice to use some $1 and up coupons, but not so nice in that I hadn't really clipped with this in mind for the months leading up to this...so my binder did not include some of the coupons that would have led to even more freebies & near freebies.

I'll be clipping with this in mind going forward. I've learned some more tips & tricks too- I'll be buying up additional copies of Sunday papers on weeks where coupons are aplenty (or if there are a few of our staple items within the mix). I've done this for the past several weeks (hence the multiple boxes of Free Frosted Mini Wheats & Starbucks frappucinos!) and will continue to do so. I'm also hoping to get more space cleared up in our garage shelving to allow more room for stockpiling nonperishables. One of the moms I met at a recent coupon swap just had their new home custom built to include 2 in-home pantries and additional stockpiling space in the garage!